


Burn

by rosestone



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Voldemort Wins, Gen, you know looking at the summary this looks dark and depressing but it's not that bad really
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-27
Updated: 2018-07-27
Packaged: 2019-06-17 02:05:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,569
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15450990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosestone/pseuds/rosestone
Summary: Percy Weasley knew he was the ultimate traitor: he'd betrayed his family, his Housemates, and even himself.  It's far too late to change his mind and betray the Dark Lord instead.  But - even knowing what he's become - he'll be damned if he leaves Ginny in torment.  He's going to save her if it's the last thing he does.





	Burn

**Author's Note:**

> Major character death occurs, but not onscreen; it's a historical event that the characters refer to. Also, suicide is mentioned. See end notes for more details.

Percival Weasley, Undersecretary to the Minister of Magic of the Dark Lord's Pure Ministry, glanced around his office.

It was large.  Comfortable.  Everything he'd aspired to as a young man, as he became more and more uncomfortably aware of the derision his father received for his Muggle obsessions and the poverty they lived in as a consequence.

Carpeted in listening spells.  Paid for in blood.

Well.  Maybe he could finally pay it back.

He hadn't realised immediately how stupid he'd been, back then.  He'd told himself that of _course_ Fudge was telling the truth.  Dumbledore just wanted his glory days back, and his parents were trusting enough to follow his lead into ruin.  Going along with their delusions would only destroy his life too.  But if he made something of himself - gained enough power by the time the charade fell apart - well, then.  He could save them, if they'd let him.  Maybe he'd only be able to protect his siblings.  But he could do _something_ to help them, something none of them could've ever managed themselves.  He'd finally be more than boring, rules-following Percy.

He'd kept telling himself that through disappearances, upheavals in the Ministry, prison breaks...  Again and again, the litany wearing thin, until one day he looked up from his desk and realised exactly how long he'd been lying to himself.  And then what?  His family was in hiding.  If he tried to contact them, he'd be arrested for treason.  If he tried to run, the Death Eaters would kill him.

Death didn't frighten him as much as it probably should.  But the idea of dying pointlessly seemed... despicable, somehow.  If he was going to throw his life away, he'd damn well achieve something doing it.

So he'd stayed.  He'd kept his head down.  He hadn't risked himself with stupid heroics, no matter how tempting it was sometimes.  He'd watched, making little mental lists of who genuinely enjoyed their work, who'd been working to subvert the Ministry all along, who seemed like they might be biding their time like him.  Who had skeletons in the closet he might be able to use.

He told himself that sooner or later, it'd all come to an end.  They'd won last time, after all.

Well.  That hadn't worked out.

He'd almost given in to the temptation to stupid martyrdom when they held the celebration.  Nobody was watching him; everyone's eyes were on Potter's body, or the prisoners lined up for execution.  He wasn't ranked highly enough in the Ministry to have a front-row seat, but he could still see the shock of Weasley-red hair in the distance.  He could... what?  Die too?  None of them could escape.  Security was too high.  It'd be a waste.

And there was Ginny.

She'd been captured, but she wasn't up there with the rest of them.  Rumour had it Malfoy had claimed her.  Rumour had it he'd said she'd insulted him when they were at school and he was going to make her pay for it.  Rumour had it... well.  He didn't want to think about what the rumours said he was doing to her.

If he died, she was alone.  Would die a prisoner.  If he lived... maybe, just maybe, he could save her.

So he'd stared at the executions like a good pureblood, no tears in his eyes when they cut his baby brother down.  He'd sworn the oaths, taken the promotions.  He'd let the Ministry use him as propaganda - look, even born-and-raised blood traitors think we're doing the right thing!  He'd nodded and murmured agreements when people asked his opinion about the manhunt for his brothers and the last few remnants of the Order.

And, slowly but surely, he'd built up a store of favours and blackmail that might be enough to stop even a Malfoy in his tracks.

He just had to have the guts to use it.

He'd been invited to a soiree at Malfoy's manor tonight.  It was to be a small affair, apparently.  There wasn't any good reason for Malfoy to be currying favour with him - unlike his father, he hadn't involved himself much in Ministry politics, preferring to socialise with the pureblood elite instead - so Percy was willing to bet the man meant it to be an insult.  An opportunity to gloat over what he'd done to Ginny.

He wondered how he'd feel about that invitation tomorrow morning.

 

The manor wasn't quite what he'd expected.  Large, obviously, as befit a man of Malfoy's status, with sweeping gardens and a fashionable design, but...  He'd thought it might be more like the senior Malfoy's home.  _Garish_ might not be quite the right word for that residence - centuries of refinement had removed any gaudiness that a prior owner might have added - audacious, perhaps?  Any home that boasted a flock of albino peacocks certainly wasn't ordinary.

But this place was quiet.  Nothing but a few artfully placed water lilies cluttered the surface of the distant pond.  Behind him were serene green knolls; before him, an elegant house surrounded by subdued gardens.

It wasn't what he'd expected out of any Malfoy.  Or any Death Eater, come to think.

And it wasn't just quiet for lack of peacocks, either.  He couldn't see any _guests_.  He'd come at the time specified - he couldn't be early - unless this was some ploy of Malfoy's?  Probably safest to assume that it was.

He squared his shoulders.  It'd end badly for Malfoy if that was the game he was playing.  Every single indignity he'd placed on Ginny was coming back to him today, and he couldn't wait to see the look on his face.

The door opened almost before he reached it.  The silent, neatly-dressed house elf behind it took his cloak and guided him to an equally well-appointed parlour, which was - of course - empty except for Malfoy.

"Mr Weasley," he said, standing and holding out a hand.  "I'm glad you could come."

"Mr Malfoy."  Percy made himself smile.  He'd gotten good at it.  "Well, I'm certainly glad you invited me.  Though... am I early?  I seem to be the only one here."

Malfoy smiled back.  "Well, I may have asked you to come a little earlier than the others.  There's someone I wanted you to have a chance to speak to in private, you see."

"Oh?"  He kept his voice studiously neutral.

He placed a hand on Percy's shoulder, guiding him towards a side door.  From someone else, he might have taken it as a friendly gesture.  "I'm sure you know I've had your sister as my guest, these last few years -"

Percy bit his tongue, hard.  He couldn't afford to start screaming at the bastard.  Not when he was so close.

"She's wanted to see you," Malfoy went on, "but circumstances made that sort of meeting difficult.  But I think we can manage it now.  Don't you?"

The door opened, and - Merlin.  There she was.  Percy's eyes ran over her frantically.  She was thinner, perhaps - definitely paler - but there weren't any obvious scars, no sluggish movements that might suggest Imperius, robes new and well-styled -

"Percy," she breathed.

"Ginevra."  He didn't quite know what to do.  Hug her?  Ask Malfoy for some private moments?  Or demand them?

Her eyes shifted from him.  "Thank you."

Malfoy nodded and ducked out, closing the door behind him.  It seemed very quiet.

"Percy," she said again.  "Are you all right?"

He blinked.  "Am I - are _you_ all right?  With - with Malfoy, everything that must have happened -"

She waved a hand.  "Oh, he's fine.  But... Death Eaters, Percy.  They've let you live.  That..."

"Oh."  He wanted to look away.  Wander over to the window, maybe, take in the view.  It must be spectacular.  Instead he swallowed and fixed his eyes on hers.  "I had to... _play along_ doesn't seem like quite the right phrase, considering the seriousness of our circumstances.  But I couldn't afford to do anything stupid.  Not when you were here -"  He froze.  Listening spells - how could he have been so stupid -

"It's fine," Ginny said.  "He wouldn't spy - well, not on this, anyway.  You can check if you'd like.  I know he won't mind."

Percy wasn't quite sure of that, but he pulled out his wand and cast a few detection spells anyway.  Everything they showed was innocuous - stain-resisting charms on the upholstery, protective spells on the outer wall, what you'd usually expect to see in a house like this - which wasn't as comforting as he would have liked.  Malfoy might have access to all sorts of esoteric spells he didn't have the knowledge to detect, after all.

"It's _fine_ ," she repeated, taking his arm and guiding him to a couch.  "Come on - there.  You didn't really do all that for me, did you?"

He shrugged helplessly.  "What else was I supposed to do?  Throw my life away doing something stupid when I knew you were trapped here?  That wouldn't have helped anything.  It -"  He swallowed, staring at the clenched fist on his knee.  "It wouldn't have brought Ron back.  Or any of the others who might've died."

She frowned.  "You don't know?"

"How would I?  I suppose you don't get out into _proper_ society much, but they don't spread that sort of information around.  They have public executions, if somebody's captured, but otherwise I have no idea.  I suppose not everyone could've survived.  But I don't know."

"Oh, Percy."  She took his hands, twisting around on the couch to face him.  "The last time I saw them, everyone was fine.  Well, alive, anyway.  Dad took a curse a while back that slowed him down a lot, so he had to stop fighting actively, and Bill and Charlie were out of the country when the big fight happened - Bill and Fleur were visiting her family and upgrading their wards, and Charlie was recruiting - so I suppose they must be all right."

Some of the ball of worry Percy'd been carrying with him since the fall of the old Ministry relaxed.  "They're safer out there than the rest of us are, then."

"Probably."  She reached out, tilting his chin up so she could look into his eyes.  "Percy... what happened before?  When we were fighting, and you were..."

"Accusing you of being liars?"  His lips twisted.  "I believed what I was saying, Ginny.  I thought I'd end up saving you all from your stupidity.  By the time I realised _I_ was the one lying to myself, it was too late to run, even if I'd had somewhere to run to.  I managed to collect a decent amount of information - not that I ever had the chance to hand it over to the conquering heroes.  It's turned out to be useful now, though.  Formed the core of the material I've been collecting to rescue you."

"To rescue me?" she said, eyebrows raising.

"Yes."  His hands tightened around hers.  "I'll never be in a position, politically speaking, to take Malfoy head-on.  His family is far too established, both as purebloods and as Death Eaters, and I'm not.  But I've made friends, and I've collected information and blackmail, and I think I've finally got enough to be able to persuade him to let you go.  Of course, you know him better than I do - do you think he's persuadable?  Would he create too much of a fuss, or..."

"No.  I don't think he'd make a fuss.  But I would."

He blinked.  "I'm sorry?"

"I'd apologise for putting you to so much trouble, searching for a way to rescue me, but frankly I'm glad you did.  It'll be rather helpful."

"Ginny..."  A nasty thought occurred to him, one that turned his guts to ice.  "Ginny - what exactly did he do to you?  You're not -"

"Percy."  Her stare was enough to make him falter.  "I realise this may sound strange to you - I suppose you've spent all this time terrified about what might be happening to me - but I'm fine.  He didn't do anything to me at all."

"But -"

"If you want an explanation, you're going to have to actually let me talk, Percy."

He pressed his lips together and leaned back against the couch, brows raised.

"It started when I saved - well.  No.  Really, it started in first year, but it'll make more sense if I explain it this way.  When I was fifteen, I found Draco hiding in a girls' bathroom in Hogwarts.  He was... in a bad state, you might say.  The Dark Lord had ordered him to assassinate Dumbledore; if he failed, or refused the task, his parents would die.  He hadn't seen the threat, when he was first given the job.  He'd thought of it as an honour - that the Dark Lord saw him as powerful enough to take the Headmaster down.  But time went by - he didn't succeed - and the threats became more blatant.  He couldn't pretend the Dark Lord wanted him to win any more.  I suppose after a while it might have started to seem easier to just... stop.  To take the simplest exit, the one that might cause his parents so much pain that the Dark Lord would consider their accounts even."

"But you didn't let him."

She shook her head.  "It didn't take much. Most people don't really want to die, when it comes down to it.  They want a way out, any way out.  Or someone to tell them the darkness they're trapped in isn't going to last forever.  And what _he_ really needed was someone who understood what it was like to be trapped by the Dark Lord.  To have no way out except by killing - except that it isn't a way out, because if you let him win it just... goes on.  Forever."

"How would you -"  He choked to a halt.  Oh, Merlin.  "First year - you didn't -"

"Lucius Malfoy passed me a cursed diary, and the Dark Lord possessed me."  She squeezed his hands again.  "Not that I told him that at the time - it seemed a little cruel, when he was agonising over his father's potential death.  We kept talking after that, though.  He got... significantly more disillusioned with time."

"Ginny."

"I always wondered what Mum and Dad told the rest of you.  Ron knew, of course, since he and Harry were all tangled up in it, but I knew they couldn't have told you everything."

He shook his head jerkily.  "No - just that you'd been taken, and Harry took you back, and destroyed the artifact that was causing all the trouble.  Just - just that."

"Well, as lies go, it's not bad.  Covers all the essentials."

" _Ginny_ -"  He cleared his throat.  "I'm - I'm sorry.  I never really knew what to say, after - after everything.  Especially - after what happened with Penny, you - I realised you might have had something else you needed to talk to me about, but I just -  And you never even got to talk to a Healer, did you?"

"It's fine, really.  I preferred the way you treated me, honestly, like nothing had ever gone wrong - better than Mum, really.  She tiptoed around me for months.  And they did offer me a Healer - Dumbledore even said he'd pay, since it happened on school grounds and the wards should've picked up on the dark magic in the diary - but I refused.  I didn't want to talk to anyone about it.  Dad backed me up - he said he didn't think it was right to force me into doing something I didn't want to do after I'd had a whole year of being forced into things I didn't want to do.  So I put myself back together, in the end.  Just... different."

"Different?"

"I think everyone thought he'd just be... gone, once the diary was destroyed.  As if he'd never been there at all.  But he wasn't."  She shrugged lightly.  It was the sort of expression he might expect to see on a pureblood lady discussing the poor quality of this season's wine vintage, not... this.  "He left parts behind.  Memories of things I'd never done."

He couldn't help the horrified expression that crossed his face.  She winced.

"Nothing - nothing really awful, I promise.  He made the diary when he was a teenager, after all.  He hadn't had a chance to do anything really terrible yet, and I didn't get personal memories anyway.  It was more... spells.  Skills.  That sort of thing.  The memory of an excellent primer on Legilimency and Occlumency, which was actually quite helpful."

Percy remembered the way she'd stared into his eyes earlier and flinched.  Not that he could blame her - she must have wondered what side he was really on - but still.

"I don't make a habit of Legilimising my friends, don't worry," she added, smiling wryly.  "But I had to know you were trustworthy before I could tell you any of this."

"And what if I hadn't been?"

She shrugged.  "A little memory modification, and you head home again, believing you've attended an entertaining dinner and that there's no way you could ever pry me out of Draco's grasp.  Or, depending on how useful you seemed, I might have gone home with you after all.  I doubt it, but it could have happened."

"How useful I seemed."  He tapped his fingers on his thigh.  "You've implied Malfoy is safe for you to be around, and that my _usefulness_ was a factor in this meeting.  You wouldn't have said any of that if you didn't think I was trustworthy.  So what's going on?"

"I wasn't ever very good at lying to you," she said, smiling.

"It's not as if you're trying.  Come on, Ginny."

"When - after the fight, the last one, he took me.  Shouted to everyone in range that he was claiming me, so none of them would interfere.  I suppose he thought he owed me, for what I'd done for him before.  And then... well, as I said before, he'd become disillusioned.  And he's not the only one.  A surprisingly large number of people hadn't really thought about what this new reign would involve.  Muggleborn and halfblood friends persecuted, when they'd always told themselves they'd be safe because they were the 'right sort'.  An ever-increasing number of freedoms curtailed in the name of safety, from banning overseas travel to unexpected curfews.  The ever-increasing restrictions on marriage designed to create the purest possible society, that in practice allow Death Eaters to force whoever they like to marry them and make it nearly impossible for anyone else to choose freely.  The stark disparity in wealth and privilege between the Death Eaters and everyone else, no matter how pure their blood.  And a hundred other indignities, some minor and some less so, that chafe on almost everyone in this new society of theirs."  She leaned forwards, eyes intent.  "We've been building a network.  Mostly among the upper class to start with - since they're the people Draco has the best, least suspicious access to - but it's been spreading.  We're going to burn it all down, Percy.  Top to bottom."

"I -"  His chest was tight, his gut churning.  "If someone finds out -"

She shrugged.  "I vet everyone."

"But -"  He put his head in his hands, sucking in a breath.  "He's immortal.  There was - someone hit him with a Killing Curse six months ago.  A direct hit.  He _laughed_."

"I know."  Her hand was cool against the back of his neck.  "I was there, the day they did the first mass execution.  I had to be.  The spectacle, you know - making me stand there and watch Ron die.  It reinforced what everyone thought Draco was doing to me."

"Ginny."

"I don't know if he knew.  Maybe he just hoped.  But he looked me directly in the eyes, Percy, and he thought as hard as he could about the dark magic he and Hermione and Harry had spent the last few years hunting.  The magic that keeps Tom alive.  They hadn't managed to find all the pieces yet when Harry died, or things might've gone differently - but I know where they are.  Once I get my hands on them..."  She sighed, long and slow.  "They'll all burn."

"Merlin."  It was unthinkable.  He'd known this was going to be his life for - how long?  Since the first failed assassination?  Or further back than that, maybe, some moment in the distant past when he'd realised that there wasn't anything that anyone could do to take the Dark Lord down.  The idea that she could just...

He'd known Ginny since very nearly her first breath.  He'd held her when she was a screaming infant, chased after her as she sprinted on chubby toddler legs, scolded her for childhood escapades.  He knew what she sounded like when she'd made her mind up.  If she said she was going to destroy him, he was as good as dead.

"What -"  His throat scratched as he said it.  He coughed.  "What are you going to do about the Death Eaters?"

"Conveniently for us, the senior Death Eaters don't like sharing power, so they've done their best to limit recruitment into their ranks.  There's a fairly small pool we have to deal with, especially considering how many were badly injured or killed in the war.  Those that are left... well, it depends.  We'll take as many as we can out with well-timed accidents, but too many of those in a row will look suspicious, unfortunately.  A few may have to be killed immediately after we take over, or captured and imprisoned - especially those whose immediate family we've recruited.  Draco isn't quite sure where he falls on the matter of Lucius, for example."

He pushed himself upright, frowning.  "I've never heard anything suggesting they'd had a falling-out.  Surely he'd want him to live?"

"Oh, he does.  Draco loves his parents, and he doesn't want anything bad to happen to them.  But he isn't sure they'd agree to hand over their power, and he doesn't know what they might do if they find out he's the one taking it away from them.  I told him it was Lucius who'd handed the diary to me, you see, and he's had plenty of time to see what kind of people his parents became when given near-unlimited power.  He does love them.  He just can't trust them."

"I suppose it'd be easier to arrest people you loved if you knew they weren't going to try to fight back."

"That's a great deal of the problem, yes."  She shrugged, looking tired for the first time since he'd stepped into the room.  "But at least it's not mine to deal with.  I suppose Mum and Dad will have other things they're upset about, the next time I see them, but I don't have to worry they're going to try to kill me."

"Surely you don't think they'd be upset with you for _ending_ all this?"

Her mouth twisted.  "That?  No.  But the way I did it... maybe.  I imagine there was more going on behind the scenes than any of us were ever privy to - spying, blackmail, maybe even assassinations, back before everything broke into outright war.  But there's a difference between them knowing that was happening, and me actually being involved in it.  I'm sure you remember how protective they were.  Perils of being the youngest, I suppose."

"Better fighting dirty than becoming a collaborator," Percy said, shrugging.  "If worst comes to worst, you could always sic them on me.  I'm pretty sure they'd be much, _much_ more upset with what I've been doing, considering that I'd never even thought of trying to get rid of the Dark Lord."

"No.  I won't."  Her shoulders set.  "We need you for this, Percy, and I'm not going to let you condemn yourself, not when you're in exactly the right place at exactly the right time."

He snorted.  "How in Merlin's name am I supposed to help you?  I'm not a fighter, Ginny, and I certainly don't have Malfoy's connections -"

"No, you don't.  You have _your_ connections.  Everything you've been building up inside the Ministry, all this time."  She leaned forwards, eyes intent on his.  "We can't just let the Ministry fall to pieces when we take over, as nice as it might be to actually destroy the whole thing.  I've got people working on identifying the trustworthy ones in there, and on tracing people who lost their jobs because they're not pure enough but who weren't actually executed, but we need someone to hold everything together.  Someone who's got experience inside the Ministry, who I know I can trust, but who isn't so closely connected to the Death Eaters that they'd come across as untrustworthy to the remnants of the old Ministry we're planning on recruiting.  Someone like you."

"Oh," he managed.

"We don't have anyone else nearly as well-placed as you, frankly.  Draco doesn't have the talent or the temperament for it, and everyone we've recruited who's already got a Ministry position is either too low-ranked to be able to pull off this particular role or too closely connected to the Death Eaters.  And the new screening they've put in recently to weed out Order spies would make it just about impossible for us to introduce someone new.  It has to be you."

"Oh.  That's..."

"I know it probably isn't the way you'd fancied becoming Minister," she added, expression wry, "but I'm not sure you could manage it otherwise, since you're simultaneously a blood traitor from a suspicious family and someone who's far too close to the Death Eaters.  And who knows - if you do a good enough job they might even re-elect you when everything's over."

He snorted.  "Because the remnants of the Order of the Phoenix are definitely going to want _me_ to be in charge of Magical Britain."

"Play your cards right and you may come out of this a hero.  Brave Percy Weasley, spent all those years undercover among the Death Eaters so he could be in the right place at the right time if they won -"

"Deceitful Percy Weasley," he said, grimacing.  "Lied so he could stay the Minister for Magic."

"You're a politician, aren't you?  It's practically a requirement.  And it's not so different from what you've been doing so you could rescue me, is it?"

"I suppose."  He hesitated.  "A lot of the information I collected wasn't something I could use directly against Malfoy.  His family's too good at maintaining their image.  Most of it's either damaging to their allies or information they could have used against their enemies.  I thought I might've been able to convince them it was worth the trade.  But... it might be helpful to you, too.  As blackmail, or maybe to make it look like some of the Death Eaters killed each other in a feud so it's less suspicious."

"Or to _actually_ get a few Death Eaters into a feud."  She smiled widely, reminding him of some carnivorous beast eager for the hunt.  "That will be enormously useful, Percy.  Thank you."

"Well.  I'm glad it'll be useful for something, at least."  He glanced down at his hands clasped in his lap.  "I - are you sure about this?  All of it, I mean - Malfoy, his little cabal, that you do really know how to kill him... me?"

"Percy.  I am absolutely - deathly - certain.  About all of it."

"Okay."  He swallowed.  "Good.  I suppose I'll be your Minister for Magic, then."

She smiled again, sharp-toothed.  "That was exactly what I was hoping you would say."

**Author's Note:**

> Extra details: Ron and Harry are both killed by the Death Eaters, and Percy and Ginny both witnessed it. Ginny mentions that Draco contemplated suicide at one point during his sixth year, but it isn't really gone into.


End file.
